


That (Not So Dirty) Secret

by Legs (InsanityRule)



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: I used the word porn like 20 times and yet it's nowhere to be found, M/M, fic request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 11:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4018762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanityRule/pseuds/Legs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is not looking at porn.</p><p>He is not thinking about Jared in porn.</p><p>He is not getting aroused thinking about Jared in porn.</p><p>He is not good at lying to himself.</p><p>~</p><p>Richard finds out Jared might've been previously involved in Intersite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That (Not So Dirty) Secret

**Author's Note:**

> anon fic request from tumblr

Ron LaFlamme spins his chair all the way around once before standing and clapping his hand to Richard’s and giving it a firm shake. “Well done Richie I didn’t think you had it in ya but damn, Intersite? Phenomenal.”

“Um… thank you?” Richard wrings out his hand. “Our algorithm is superior to theirs so it’s only right-”

“Yeah yeah, listen, important To Do’s for the next few days, okay? Mostly signing, shake a couple hands, get an office space, easy stuff. Come in tomorrow and we’ll get your autograph on all the papers.”

“Okay, thanks,” Richard smiles to himself. “I’ll…” LaFlamme is finger skateboarding across his desk, ignoring Richard. “Right. Bye.”

As Richard opens the door LaFlamme adds, “one more thing, make sure your guy that’s been with Intersite airs any dirty laundry before the trial. You know, videos or whatever.”

“Wh-who?”

“Make it honest and public, Tweet it for all I care, but do it before any meetings with the lawyers.”

“The fuck. Who’s been involved with the porn industry?” He’s almost certain it’s Erlich. “You’re sure it’s one of us?”

“Had my boys snoop on everyone, can’t be too careful with this kind of thing. Hold on a sec I wrote it down…” He flips through a few papers. “Donald Dunn.”

~

Richard doesn’t remember going outside but the Aviato car pulls up and Erlich waves him over, so he must’ve managed to get downstairs without cracking his head open. He bumps against the door and quickly stress vomits before opening the door, climbing inside, and foregoing his seat belt in favor of pulling his legs up into his sweatshirt and cinching the hood.

“Richard what the hell are you doing?”

“Oh nothing,” he’s muffled by his hood.

“Okay.” Erlich side eyes him and starts driving. “If we get pulled over you’re paying-”

“Jared’s been in porn.”

“What.”

Richard’s nose and eyes peek out from inside his hood. “Jared. He’s…” He shakes his head, lips pinched shut. “He’s done things with Intersite, and now I have to talk to Jared about being in porn.”

“Are you sure he didn’t mean Gilfoyle? I watch a lot of porn Richard. A lot of it.” Richard looks uncomfortable. “I even watch the credits. Never seen a Jared Dunn in the whole bunch.”

“Donald.”

“Who?”

“Jared’s real name is Donald Dunn.”

“Huh.” Erlich parks at the incubator. “Time to do some research.”

“I’m not watching porn.”

“I mean Google you moron.”

It’s quiet in the main room, for once, and of course Jared notices he’s there right away and he looks over with a smile. Richard must look like hell, because Jared’s smile fades and he abandons his laptop so he can fuss over Richard’s condition.

“Are you feeling okay? Sometimes ginger ale can settle an upset stomach.” Instead of responding Richard can’t stop staring at Jared’s hands. Wondering. He’s touched those hands. What have they done? Where have they been? He didn’t notice Jared leave but when he gets back a glass is placed in Richard’s hand, his fingers brush against Jared’s, and he flinches, dropping the glass and spilling ginger ale everywhere.

“Shit!” Richard back away and knocks over a lamp on the way to his room. He ignores when Jared knocks - of course Jared wants to check on him; who else worries about his well being so thoroughly? - and crawls into his loft without even bothering to remove his shoes.

~

He is not looking at porn.

He is not thinking about Jared in porn.

He is not getting aroused thinking about Jared in porn.

He is not good at lying to himself.

Except he’s not actually watching any of the porn currently playing on his laptop. Richard has never found porn enticing. It’s bad enough knowing he’s a graceless idiot when he has sex he doesn’t need a visual reminder. Karma can’t be real because with all his bad luck he’d expect to see some good every once and a while. Unless his past life used it all up. What a dick.

Instead Richard is trying to Google information about Intersite videos and pornography actors and he knows incognito mode is not strong enough to undo all his shameful search queries.

Donald Dunn porn corrected to Donald Duck and he nearly threw his computer across the room.

After a couple hours he’s accepted his fate and climbs down from his loft. He opens the door and nearly trips over Jared, because apparently he decided to camp outside of Richard’s door while he hid from everyone. And of course he was probably there when Richard watched all that porn (sort of) with the sound on. He wants to die.

“Richard are you feeling okay?” Jared touches his forehead. He is not freaking out he will not freak out. Jared won’t pick up trash without wearing gloves there’s no way he didn’t wash his hands after sex. On camera. For money.

“You don’t appear to have a fever. Did your meeting go poorly? Can I help in any way?”

Erlich is rushing over but he doesn’t get to Richard before he can ask, “were you in porn?”

Erlich puts his hands on his knees, tragically winded after running the length of the house, crumpling a piece of paper as he recovers before standing up and handing the paper over to Richard. “Researched- for- you. Intern. No porn.” He coughs. “You’re welcome.”

Jared looks so lost and hurt and Richard is a pile of shit. Of course he assumed the worst when LaFlamme said someone used to work there, of course he did. Literally everyone else in the world would have sex on camera before Jared. Because Jared is sweet and kind and there’s no way he would ever think of sex as anything but a wonderful connection between people that are in love and Richard hates himself. He’s a terrible, awful person and he can’t figure out how to take back that question. He hides behind the paper, a work profile for one Donald Dunn: Intern in the business department at Intersite.

“Oh fuck… fuck, Jared…”

“You thought I performed sexually for money?”

Richard would really love it if karma could strike him down right about now.

“Well you- you don’t say much about your past and,” he licks his lips, and then covers his face, “I’m such an asshole. I’m going to work in my room.”

Jared nods. He’s not looking at Richard and he is the human embodiment of a kicked puppy and Richard feels like a worse shithead than before. He watches Jared wander off and Richard nearly follows him to apologize, but he knows it will go from ‘I’m sorry I thought you were in porn’ to ‘I’m sorry I thought about you in porn’ to ‘I basically fantasized about you in porn for two hours’ so he stays in his room to try and clear his head.

~

The new hires leave. Dinesh and Gilfoyle go to their rooms, Erlich is in the kitchen, and Richard is worried he’ll have to ask where Jared went until he finds an extension cord that wasn’t plugged in before. He follows it until it leads him outside where Jared is sitting by the pool. He sits to Jared’s right to avoid tangling himself in the charge cord.

“Jared, I-” Jared puts a hand up.

“Richard, I understand you have a company to think about, and as CEO it is your responsibility to ensure all of your employees meet certain standards. I have worked for a company specializing in pornography distribution, and if you believe that reflects poorly on Pied Piper, I understand.”

“What? Jared no, it’s… you’re a smart guy and sex,” he huffs, “sex sells. You’re not going to be fired. And Intersite is our client now so… none of this is about image, okay?” Jared nods and sets aside his laptop. “But… but we do have to make it public knowledge.”

“Of course. Preferential treatment. They don’t remember me, I’m certain.”

“We’ll figure all that out tomorrow okay? And… and I’m sorry about the whole, thinking you were in porn thing.”

“I’m quite alright, Richard. I’m just glad you know the truth now.”

Richard nods. “Right, so… night.” Richard rocks forward, intending to stand, but Jared tugs at his sleeve. “Jared?”

“It was an internship in business development.” Richard gives Jared his full attention because this is probably the first time he’s ever opened up to any of them and he’s not going to make it stop just because he’s tired. “I had just graduated from Vassar, and I knew I wanted to work out here. But no one was hiring anyone without work experience. I was in debt and had no job, and then I found the internship at Intersite. A year later Hooli accepted my application and I began working for Gavin, and then I met you. Intersite is the reason I work for Pied Piper today.”

“Well, uh, I never thought I’d thank porn before.” That was definitely a weird thing to say and Richard is kicking himself. Jared will never share anything ever again.

“I have to agree. I’m very glad I met you.”

Richard does not think his stomach can handle two mind blowing moments in one day but Jared looks so happy and thankful and ‘he’s glad he met Richard’ which sounds way more like a ‘I’m attracted to you’ thing than a ‘I’m glad we’re in business together’ thing. He knows he could be wrong; Richard will forever remember the one school dance he attended as the-guy-who-misinterpreted-a-pity-date, but waiting until another day will just make him more anxious and right now he doesn’t feel like he has much to lose.

He’s working for the porn industry his dignity is basically dead.

He kisses Jared and THIS IS A BAD IDEA. Not even eight hours ago he definitely thought Jared was in porn and he definitely looked for porn with Jared in it and when that didn’t work he definitely used his imagination to get things done. But it’s nice and it’s been fucking forever since he’s really connected with someone and he doesn’t give in, even when Jared freezes in place.

If this goes badly he’s nearly one hundred percent certain he’s going to throw up in Jared’s mouth.

But then Jared’s hands grab onto his sweater and he can feel the tiniest pressure of Jared kissing back. He’s so timid Richard barely registers Jared pulling him in closer until his arms have nowhere to go but around Jared’s waist. Their noses keep bumping together and he’s terrified of messing things up enough to keep his tongue to himself. It’s not his first but it’s their first so even though kissing is no fireworks show he feels stupidly happy about everything.

He really should thank karma one of these days.

~

“So it’s basically an agreement that Jared’s past employment didn’t sway their decision. People on both sides, Pied Piper and Intersite, are going to sign.”

“The old cover our asses trick,” Erlich signs his name. “Not a bad idea.”

Gilfoyle raises a hand. “Question. Do we need a second one for my video.”

“What the fuck Gilfoyle.” Dinesh groans. “You’re in a porn?”

“I am indeed. A couple years back Tara and I filmed ourselves, personal use intended, and someone got ahold of it on her computer and submitted it to Intersite’s amateur page. It got popular. Naturally. Tara found out and sued the guy for using our images to make a profit, she won bless her dark satanist heart, and now she has a lawsuit payout and a steady income. Doesn’t have to work a day in her life.”

“What the fuck?” Richard pulls his hood over his face. “It’s still up on the site?”

“Of course. Best living we’ve ever earned.”

“You’re absolutely disgusting.” Dinesh replies.

“Richard? Could we-?” Jared motions across the hall and they leave the room. “In light of Gilfoyle’s um… news, I don’t think now is the best time to disclose our relationship without overloading everyone’s minds, but for the company’s sake we should write up a relationship agreement that explains in clear language that it in no way affects the company’s operations or what people are paid. For now privacy may be the best option.”

“I like privacy. No Facebook or Twitter announcements, no… no videos of us-” Jared starts blushing so hard Richard is sure he can feel the heat coming from his cheeks without touching them. He touches them anyway. “Um… does that sound good?”

Jared nods and kisses him. He smiles.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

Until he sees Erlich standing in the doorway.

Richard decides karma can go fuck itself.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a fic request and I deviated a bit but I can't make my precious angel have sex for money I just can't.


End file.
